When people think about a garage suite, most of the attention naturally goes upstairs, where the homeowners live. But in our experience, the ground floor/garage level is one of the most important parts of the entire build.It’s where vehicles are stored, where long-term flexibility lives, and where small planning decisions can make a big difference [...]
Appliances play a huge role in your garden suite’s performance. From the energy bill to the noise level to how much space you have to move around, choosing the right ones can make a big difference in how the suite functions day to day (and even year to year).For the Hazeldean garage suite, we designed [...]
Windows and doors play a much bigger role in energy efficiency than most homeowners realize.At Energy Efficient Homes, every window and door in our builds is selected with Edmonton’s erratic climate in mind and installed with care to ensure long-term performance.The baseline windows and doors that we install exceed typical performance standards. They also meet [...]
Insulation is one of the most important elements of every build. That’s why every garden suite we build includes the Thermal-Lock system: a panelized wall insulation method that wraps the structure in a continuous layer of protection from the foundation to the roofline. It’s a key reason our garden suites exceed EnerGuide’s home-building standards, feel [...]
It’s been a busy and rewarding few months on site in Hazeldean, where we’re building a new garage suite that fits perfectly into one of Edmonton’s mature neighbourhoods. If you’re thinking about building a garden suite in your own backyard, you might be wondering what the first few months actually look like. We planned every [...]
This month on The Gentle Side of Infill, we’re walking you through the exact steps we took to build the foundation for the Hazeldean garage suite, each one thoughtfully planned so that it lasts for decades. Foundation: The Backbone of the Build The foundation of the suite isn’t glamorous, but it’s the backbone of every [...]
Even if you’re not planning to rent your garden suite right away, it’s a smart move to design it in a way that keeps that option open. Whether your garden suite is for family now and tenants later, or you're still deciding what the future looks like, thoughtful planning during the design phase makes a [...]
Laying a great foundation for a garden suite means more than pouring concrete. Breaking ground is when every Energy Efficient Homes project starts to feel real and sets the tone for the exciting stages to come. This month on The Gentle Side of Infill, we're discussing the first steps that quietly shape a successful build: [...]
Before we pour a foundation or frame a single wall, there’s a lot of work that takes place behind the scenes that you don’t see from the street, but that lays the groundwork for everything to come. Designing and building a custom garden suite is about understanding the client's needs, what’s driving the project, how [...]
Welcome to The Gentle Side of Infill, the Energy Efficient Homes blog. Garden Suites, Laneway Houses, Garage Suites, Granny Flats, Backyard Homes… gentle infill goes by many names. Recently, infill has become a hot topic in Edmonton, especially in mature neighbourhoods where change can be sensitive. But at Energy Efficient Homes, we believe there’s a [...]
